November 23, 2010

Let’s hope what follows is the strangest, darkest, worst news item any of us will have to read over the next two weeks. According to the NYPD, Michael Brea, an actor who once appeared on Ugly Betty, has killed his mother with a samurai sword after a “religious rant.”

The New York Daily News reports that Brea was apparently screaming “Repent, repent, sinner, sinner” and “You never accepted Jesus,” according to neighbors, who characterized the noise as “real loud.” This is insane, and terrifying:

Suspect Michael Brea, 31, – an actor who once appeared on TV’s “Ugly Betty” – angrily screamed at his doomed parent to “repent” before delivering the death blows after horrified neighbors called for police. “I heard this wild screaming,” said Gregory Clare, 25, who lived one floor below the Prospect Heights apartment where Yannick Brea was brutally slain. Yannick Brea, 55, howled for help that didn’t arrive in time to save her. “Her screams woke me up,” said another neighbor in the four-story building. “Screams I’ll never forget. … I heard [Michael] rambling. He was incoherent.”

Brea’s been taken into custody and is receiving a psychiatric evaluation. This guy was on Ugly Betty. Wow. Also, a samurai sword? Really? Brooklyn, stop it.